A federal investigation has been opened into the source of the illegal downloads of Lionsgate action pic The Expendables 3, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE, has picked up the case after Lionsgate made calls to several law-enforcement agencies to ask for help in locating the pirates, who are accused of leaking a full version of the pic on various file-sharing sites last week. U.S. Customs was merged into USDHS, and it investigates illegally distributed copyrighted materials, including media content. In the past it has actually seized domain names of websites used to illegally distribute media content and/or counterfeit goods. Said an ICE public affairs officer this afternoon, “It is our policy to neither confirm or deny that an investigation is underway, unless or until it results in some type of public enforcement action.”

It comes the same day Lionsgate filed suit against the sites hosting the pic and the same day it dropped the final trailer (see it below) that opens wide August 15.

Lionsgate found out about the theft of a single digital copy last Friday, according to the suit, with news of the download surfacing wide by the time Comic-Con was in full swing last weekend. We’re told there were 250,000 downloads on that first day, and Variety reports piracy-tracking firm Excipio says there have been 2 million downloads to date.

In the suit, the studio names file-sharing sites Limetorrents.com, Billionuploads.com, Hulkfile.eu, Played.to, Swantshare.com and Dotsemper.com and claims it sent several letters to each site demanding the movie be removed. It demands a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction as well as actual and statutory damages. The first two installments of the franchise have grossed $580M worldwide.

293 Comments

Beau Ring • on Aug 1, 2014 4:24 pm

There’s nothing in this trailer that can’t be found in what leaked online.

Rocky Rambo • on Aug 1, 2014 5:18 pm

Two million people have already watched the movie online and Lionsgate is now suing 10 anonymous uploaders they don’t know their real names they have to list them as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 etc. up to John Doe 10.

By the time the movie opens two weeks from now another three million people will have seen it for free. They should have rushed it into theaters last week or this week as soon as it goes viral on upload sites the longer you sit on it the more money you lose.

Jim • on Aug 1, 2014 6:33 pm

You can’t just “rush it” to the theaters. There are contracts that say how long a movie has to run in a theater so they need the capacity to run a movie.

open borders importing 1,000 of new welfare recipients instead of taking care of our own first but noooooooooooooo, stop the movie piracy. hummm, Hollywood big rich democrat supporters, ahhhhh, now I get it.
with Obama its always cronies 1st.

TtwoT • on Aug 1, 2014 10:53 pm

I think we should check into how much LionsGate has contributed towards the president’s campaign. It might reflect how quickly this was brought into the hands of DHS.

Remember: ALL of these idiot stunts by DHS are directed by White House Staffa & Policies: they’re just kissing Hollywood’s arse because Hollywood provides pro-Obama & Democrat propaganda, as well as truckloads of cash to persuade braindead Dems to vote for the Democrats over and over…

AnneP1 • on Aug 2, 2014 9:30 am

No foolin’. I just love the fed’s priorities. Lois Lerner and the IRS and NSA spying, well, not so much…..

Piracy threatens an entire economic industry for the US, not just star paychecks. The Silicon stalwarts are not doing a very good job of governing the internet while they incubate its growth at any cost to others so someone has to do it. Piracy, copyright infringement, and counterfeiting must be stopped. It may not be THE important issue this week but it’s very real and crucial to our society.

Hate to break it to you. Films are just information….just a bunch of 1’s and 0’s. If you can arrest people for spreading information, you can arrest them for spreading any information. Everything on the internet should be free, because if we start prosecuting people for spreading movies/music, its only a matter of time before ViTAL information is made illegal to be spread online(damning information of corrupt government, journalistic photos that expose important stuff, etc….) even less important things like catchphrases and cat photoes could become copyrighted and made illegal to spread or say online….Even a catchphrase or a simple photo are made up of similar code . Your fired!

Blanchepubis • on Aug 2, 2014 3:30 pm

So, Jeff if someone hacks your bank account and posts the information online, it’s okay with you for me to take your money? That’s cool, I guess…kinda stupid, but I guess it makes sense with your way of thinking.

Anonymous • on Aug 5, 2014 3:15 pm

i AGREE

jan • on Aug 2, 2014 4:36 pm

I want to see it but i will do it legally and pay to see it. theft is theft

john Doe • on Aug 2, 2014 6:18 pm

This is nothing more than a publicity stunt by Lionsgate, good publicity/bad publicity, gets it into the MSM and gets every ones attention, works very well, don’t ya think?

azgirl • on Aug 3, 2014 6:37 am

You are incredibly perceptive to have figured this out. Yes, it is all a publicity stunt by the studio. If Apple hears of this, there is no question they will give away 2 million iPhones in advance of their next release. But a big error Lionsgate did not count on is that it’s not just about the 2 million downloads so far. How many friends and family watched the movie with the illegal downloader? I’ve heard of one local teen who bought 100 blank DVDs and in no time sold every copy at $7 each. That’s just one freelance teen, so you can multiply that number exponentially to arrive at the actual numbers arriving on the street. So this is without a doubt the most stupid studio stunt of all time.

Dude • on Aug 1, 2014 6:17 pm

And there’s nothing in the new movie that can’t be found in the first two “movies” or for that matter in any other mediocre action flick made prior to 1984. Watching Stallone take himself seriously is the most unintentionally funny sight next to a recent Adam Sandler film.

Bill Clay • on Aug 2, 2014 9:43 am

It’s easy to see when a Deadline article is linked on the Drudge Report – the comments section here fills up with tea baggers obsessed with immigrants and Obama.

Rip • on Aug 2, 2014 1:48 pm

Yo Bill, glad to see you stayed on topic. How about you take your bashing ‘tea bag’ comments and get out of here. Tolerance goes both ways, no pun intended.

It is far more important to think about a studio losing a buck than 35000 disease ridden high quality members of Mara Salvatrucha 13, EACH MONTH, suddenly being eligible for apartments in CA. Come to think of it, that’s pretty d__N FUNNY!

Boy, sure am glad you have your hat-rack on straight! Must be one of those
N T Leck Shul BO [BOstinks!] supporters! How’s that “HOAX & CHAINS” working out for you and your “PARTNER?” HUH?

I’m not sure if they should even bother advertising it at this point. It was already going to disappoint, but after the leak most of the people interested will have seen it anyway. Unless they add another few minutes to the end fight or excise the new Expendables entirely in the final cut, I don’t think it’s going to attract anyone to see it again.

Of course DHS is working on it! It’s not like they have anything better to do at the moment. It’s a much better use of their time than planting dreamers all over the US.

Anonymous • on Aug 1, 2014 7:42 pm

uhhh…if you knew anything about DHS, you would know that US Customs was merged into it….and therefore, piracy authority….therefore, completely within the scope of DHS’S investigative authority….

Calmdown • on Aug 1, 2014 8:09 pm

Doesn’t matter. Is that more important than illegal, diseased immigrants getting a free pass and more than American citizens receive? Nice argument.

Joe • on Aug 1, 2014 10:38 pm

They should be focusing on diseased, brain dead right wingers like you. They should round you all up, and deport you. The country would be FAR better without the lot of you,a nd we will never advance as a nation until you all die off.

Christy • on Aug 1, 2014 11:25 pm

Yeah, but then who would support all you lefty moochers?

Libertarian Advocate • on Aug 2, 2014 4:10 am

So says a dedicated member of the oh so “tolerant” progressive movement.

As we closely follow the principles this country was founded on, not sure why we should leave. You guys should go somewhere that follows your principles, like the Gaza strip.

Anonymous • on Aug 2, 2014 1:48 pm

wow if that wasn’t a rabid liberal that should be closely monitored in a padded room I don’t know what is. Make sure to take your meds every hour freak.

Anonymous • on Aug 1, 2014 6:33 pm

LOL good Rope a Dope story.

Flyover Country • on Aug 1, 2014 6:55 pm

I love the Hollywood Elite. They’ll still make millions but will “lose” money from the loss of revenue from the people who probably wouldn’t go see it in the theater anyway. I guess they won’t be able to trade in the Bentley this year.

Mark • on Aug 2, 2014 5:33 am

in no way should these people be called “Hollywood Elite”. “Hollywood Scum would be more appropriate.

Anonymous • on Aug 2, 2014 11:06 am

I stand corrected. Thanks Mark

Someone noticing the strangeness • on Aug 2, 2014 8:21 am

A delightful picture of guys with big guns from the industry whose scions proclaim big guns “assault” weapons and want them banned. Here’s a thought. How about not making movies about people shooting other people, and people blowing up other people and so on? Meanwhile the State Department puts out bids for machine guns and explosives, even though there is a military and so many policing forces…. Boom, but only for the special few.

insiderjob • on Aug 1, 2014 6:58 pm

Clearly an “Inside job” – either for profit for malicious reasons.

This was pirated off off a clean, non-watermarked, broadcast quality DVD of the final cut of the movie several weeks before release.

It’ll be interesting to see where this goes.

Billy • on Aug 1, 2014 8:02 pm

Exactly. It’s obviously an inside job but rather than take responsibility for the leak, Lionsgate are instead going after people sharing it.

I’m sorry, could me you give me that list of websites again, my pen ran out of ink. Dubious.

YouKnowBill • on Aug 1, 2014 7:16 pm

I’m going to go to theaters and watch this twice.

Disgusted Democrat • on Aug 1, 2014 7:18 pm

Our southern border is a crisis of Obama amnesty insanity with thousands of illegals flooding into the country many of them with horrible diseases we have been able to eradicate here. And this is what ICE spends our tax dollars on? Screw Lionsgate. Screw ICE and to hell with the Fed wasting time and money on such a stupid problem. Stop the illegals enforce the border and do your real jobs.

Calmdown • on Aug 1, 2014 8:06 pm

AMEN

Isay • on Aug 1, 2014 9:59 pm

So what you are saying is that only certain laws should be enforced, that you or people that believe as you do should be able to decide which laws are more important than others – say, murders should be investigated but thefts and rape should not until the murder cases in a certain area are solved…

Abby • on Aug 1, 2014 11:02 pm

Bad response. Logic would dictate that given the jurisdiction, the police or maybe FBI would handle such a case, as movie pirating is not exactly a nationwide concern affecting the security of Americans, but open borders to terrorists is. Homeland Security is by definition not for such criminal activity as movie piracy. They are obviously not doing anything about the border though.

Walter • on Aug 2, 2014 5:01 am

If he said that, it’d put him in league with Bush and Obama and each of their selective enforcement.

As for illegal downloads, they too should be prosecuted. That’s theft.

John • on Aug 2, 2014 7:34 am

The White House and Attorney general were way out front on the whole “only certain laws should be enforced” initiative. No leading from behind there.

davedp • on Aug 2, 2014 8:29 am

I think this this is more on the order of arresting a jaywalker while a bank robbery is going on….

TheLastDon • on Aug 3, 2014 10:26 am

No. The border laws are NOT being enforced. What he is saying is if one of the 2 crimes are enforced he would prefer the border laws being enforced rather than chasing down some movie thieves. In an ideal world you’d like both enforced, but that isn’t happening.

Calmdown • on Aug 1, 2014 7:34 pm

First of all, howabout ICE getting down to the border and helping out our Southwestern friends?

Second, I find this so ironic. It’s not too far fetched to bet all the Above The Line people at Lionsgate hate ICE and everything they stand for. But since they are losing money (much like the country is, due to the influx of immigrants), now they suddenly care.

klaus@aol.com • on Aug 1, 2014 7:42 pm

Two million illegal aliens pouring over the border and ICE is worried about a B-movie?

Walter • on Aug 1, 2014 8:43 pm

Potential future voters on the one hand…

Guys that funded his campaign on the other…

Michael • on Aug 1, 2014 7:43 pm

You miss the point entirely. WTF is the Dept of Homeland Security getting involved for?? FBI maybe, police maybe but DOHS? Way too powerful an agency from a very over-reaching govt

tehila • on Aug 1, 2014 11:53 pm

I think the movie should be piped into the dreamers resorts and military bases

CaptDMO • on Aug 2, 2014 6:19 am

And NSA, with the actual tools to do the job, are too busy….doing what?

useage • on Aug 1, 2014 7:54 pm

I have a very strong intuition several bit-torrent website owners and anyone related to their web sites are soon going to be penniless and lucky if they don’t land in jail, and rightly so.

Any idiot could have realized it was wrong AND really stupid to post a unreleased movie for free download. I am no Hollywood fan these days but whats right is right and whats wrong needs stopped and this should come with a serious price tag.

Walter • on Aug 1, 2014 8:49 pm

I’ll be all for defending Hollywood…

When they start defending me. Until then, well, aren’t they always talking about the greedy one percent and the income inequality and the racism?

CaptDMO • on Aug 2, 2014 6:18 am

What a good place to eliminate “loopholes”, and initiate “fair” taxes on those greedy incorporated entities.

Homeland Security is now chasing after movie pirates? Well, when a domestic paramilitary police force grows that big, I guess they have lots of spare time on their hands. Anyone remember when they just worried about protecting America from foreign terrorists?

Mike S • on Aug 2, 2014 1:25 am

Yeah, I remember well…BUSH was in office. And every president before him cared.

Anonymous • on Aug 1, 2014 8:00 pm

Who would waste their time on this “movie”? Wouldn’t watch if you paid me!

Big Bear • on Aug 2, 2014 6:38 am

And it is doubtful anyone who got the free download would have wasted their money on it either. These ‘losses’ from piracy are phony, like everything these days.

schm0e • on Aug 1, 2014 8:19 pm

Gestapo fer hire?

Walter • on Aug 1, 2014 8:46 pm

GestapObama. Hope (you didn’t download that flick) and Change (your street clothes for prison garb ’cause, while he takes border crossing and pot smoking with a grain salt, HE WILL NOT TOLERATE PIRATING FROM HIS RICH HOLLYWOOD BUDDIES!!!)

Anonymous • on Aug 1, 2014 8:20 pm

The movie stinks!

Jonesy • on Aug 1, 2014 8:37 pm

I’ve read that the quality of the download was first rate and had no watermark. This says to me that someone inside the studio (or distributor) leaked the film. Maybe DHS (with all the extra time they have on their hands) should start there in their “investigation”. For me, I enjoyed the first two and can’t wait until E3 shows in my theater. As an older guy myself, it’s good to see Stallone, Arnold and Ford mix it up with the young guys.

Walter • on Aug 1, 2014 8:42 pm

So just remember that Obama voters–can’t enforce the border to save his life, but by God, he’s got his Hollywood backers’ backs!

Dennis • on Aug 1, 2014 9:49 pm

The immigration surge is due to a bill passed by Bush as one of the last pieces of legislation he signed. It was supposed to curb child trafficking, but in effect it created a loophole through which child immigrants could come into the country without automatic deportation. The current president, whomever it might be, had nothing to do with this.

Politics is not a football game where you choose your colors and call the opposing team names. If it were, I would probably say something about the two decade-long wars that wasted countless thousands of human lives in exchange for an untenable foothold in a formerly stable nation. But you know what? Everybody voted for that one, so everybody is to blame. Not that you have any interest in reality.

You are right, Bush jr inked the bill that requires the USA to give minors a hearing in court to determine if sending them back to there home country would be dangerous or fatal. That has little to do with the border crisis that we are talking about today. More than 50% of the illegals crossing the border are adults,not children. Allowing the adults to stay,collect welfare,free housing,free insurance are indulgences granted at the whim of our current president. I know MSNBC would like you to believe there is a humanitarian crisis involving strictly children,due to a Republican presidents fiat, that modern day conservatives want to blame Obama while at the same time those same conservatives want to see these children die. The border is collapsing, illegals are being given a free ride in return for their fieldty to the dems. Conservatives are the party that opposes abortion,the dems consider 53 million aborted children a victory. Can you see how it would seam disingenuous that they care about children now? Stop pretending that the last 6 years have been about empowering the US taxpayer and admit you have been conned.

The border crisis was instigated by Obama pardoning the dream a..holes.

Walter • on Aug 2, 2014 4:58 am

Agreed on the Bush thing.

Disagreed on the Obama thing.

Agreed on the war thing.

Disagreed on the reality thing.

wally wobble • on Aug 1, 2014 8:43 pm

the expendables need to get to the border and shoot everything that moves. coyotes, cartels. the whole sha bang.

Sardondi • on Aug 1, 2014 8:44 pm

The ICE investigation is just a return on investment. Hey, you didn’t think all those millions in Hollywood donations were for “good government” did you? In addition to the millions to Obama, there’s probably a beautiful floor-length mink in Mrs. Attorney General Holder’s walk-in, and AG Eric himself probably loves all those rounds at his new double-secret membership at some club like Bel-Air.

So the studios were buying something. They were paying, in the famous words of Rodney Dangerfield’s as he slipped Brian Doyle Murray a wad of bills in “Caddyshack”, to “Keep it fair, keep it fair!”.

Walter • on Aug 1, 2014 8:53 pm

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

Bill • on Aug 1, 2014 10:24 pm

If it was an illegal alien that released it would they be prosecuted or are they only immune from certain laws? Who chooses what laws they have to follow and what ones they can break?